About The Academy

Chelsea FC operates a football academy for age groups Under-9 through to Under-23.

In 2016, the Academy was awarded Category One status following an independent audit by the Premier League.

The audit process forms part of the League’s monitoring of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), created in 2012 and designed to increase the quantity and quality of homegrown English players. The categorisation system permits the best-ranked academies more contact time with young players and ensures their development teams participate in the elite competitions at youth level. Up to 10 different factors are considered in the grading including productivity rates, training facilities, coaching, welfare and education provisions.

The Academy teams compete in an extensive games programme in the Professional Development Phase (Under-17+). These are split between the Under-18s, Under-19s and development squad, with the latter two generally formed of the same group of players and coaching staff.

Development Squad

Our development squad’s league commitments are in Premier League 2, which succeeded the Under-21 Premier League in the summer of 2016. This saw the age parameters increased to Under-23 and the introduction of two tiers, with promotion and relegation between the two, while our oldest academy age group was rebranded from ‘the Under-21s’ to ‘the development squad.’ Home games are generally played at Aldershot Town or Stamford Bridge.

This age group also compete in the Checkatrade Trophy, a senior Football League competition which features the 48 club sides from League One and League Two. From the summer of 2016, 16 Category One development teams were invited to participate in the competition, initially on a trial basis.

Callum Hudson-Odoi in action for our Development Squad

The 64 competing teams are split into 16 regionalised groups of four and each team plays each other once, with development teams playing all games away from home. In the event of a group game ending in a draw, a penalty shoot-out is held whereby the winners earn an additional group point. The top two from each group advance to the last-32 knockout round. The final is held at Wembley Stadium.

Development teams are required to field a minimum of six under-21 players in their starting team and can only play two players over the age of 21 who have played more than 40 times for the first team, while Football League clubs must field a certain number of first team players.

Under-19s

The Under-19s take part in the UEFA Youth League, a European competition that mirrors the UEFA Champions League group stage. Home games are generally played at Cobham or Aldershot Town . Teams face each other twice, both at home and away, with the group winners advancing to the last-16 and the runners-up to the play-off round.

Running parallel to the group stage is the domestic champions path, where the Under-18 champions of the 32 best-ranked UEFA associations compete in two knockout rounds of home-and-away ties.

Our Under-19s ahead of the UEFA Youth League final in Nyon

The eight teams who progress are drawn against the group stage runners-up in the play-off round. The play-off winners join the group winners in the last-16, where single-leg ties are played up to the final. Both the semi-finals and final are held over a four-day weekend in Nyon at the, home to UEFA headquarters.

Under-18s

The FA Youth Cup has been English football’s premier cup competition at youth level for over 60 years and attracts almost 500 entrants from throughout the English football pyramid. Initially, there are a number of qualifying rounds before the First Round sees League One and League Two clubs join for the first time. Premier League and Championship clubs enter from the Third Round onwards.

The competition follows a knockout format, with extra-time played if the game is level after 90 minutes. Only those players in the Under-16, Under-17 or Under-18 age groups in the relevant season are eligible to participate. The semi-final and final are played over two legs; if aggregate scores are level at the end of the second leg, extra-time and penalties may decide the winners. There is no away goals rule in the competition. Chelsea home games are generally played at Aldershot Town in the early rounds and Stamford Bridge later in the competition.

The Under-18s, also colloquially referred to as the Youth Team, have participated in the Youth Cup every season since 1952 and have lifted the trophy on nine occasions. Only Manchester United (10) have won the trophy more.

Chelsea Under-18s celebrate a fifth successive Youth Cup triumph

For the bulk of the season, the Under-18s compete in the Under-18 Premier League, which splits the 24 Category One academies regionally into northern and southern leagues. Home games are played at Cobham. Teams play each other twice, both at home and away, before the regional winners compete in an end-of-season play-off to determine the national champion.

The Under-18 Premier League Cup was launched in 2017 and sees all 24 Category One teams compete, initially in a group stage format before knockout matches are played from the quarter-final onwards. Groups are comprised of two northern and two southern teams, enabling sides to face opponents outside of their regional league programme.

Teams play each other once in the group stage, either at home or away, before the group winners plus the two best runners-up advance to the quarter-finals. The knockout rounds are single-leg matches, with the final drawn to be played at one of the competing team’s home venues.

Our development squad play home games at:

Getting there by road:

From the North - via the M25, exit the M3 at junction 4. Follow signs towards Aldershot on the A331 and take the exit signposted A323 Aldershot and Woking. At the roundabout, take the third exit towards Aldershot, go straight on through the two sets of traffic lights and across two mini-roundabouts towards the town. The EBB Stadium is on your right, just past the railway bridge.

From the South - exit the M3 at junction 5, signposted Hook, and take the fourth exit off the roundabout to follow the A287 towards Farnham. At the traffic lights, turn left into Hale and then at the bottom of the hill turn left onto the A325. Take the first exit off the next mini roundabout and then the third exit onto the A323 towards Aldershot Town Centre. Driving past Tesco on your left, take the second exit off the next roundabout and follow the road through three sets of traffic lights and across two roundabouts. The EBB Stadium will be on your left.

Parking is available in the Parsons Barracks Car Park, immediately adjacent to the EBB Stadium off Ordnance Road, as well as the town centre multi-storey car park on Wellington Avenue, which is a five-minute walk from the EBB Stadium. A limited amount of street parking is available around the stadium.

By rail:

Aldershot is as little as 49 minutes from London Waterloo, with direct connections also made from Woking, Ascot and Guildford. The EBB Stadium is a five-minute walk from Aldershot Train Station. Leave the station by the main entrance, towards the bus station, and turn right into Windsor Way. Pass Holy Trinity Church on your left and follow the road as it bends left. Turn right at the junction with Victoria Road and the EBB Stadium is in front of you. To reach the away turnstiles, turn right under the railway bridge and then left up Redan Road.